Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is spot on. Public figures, whether in media, sport, politics or business, have to have a thick skin. Public figures put themselves out there and have to accept that they are going to be criticised in a way that average or everyday people would not be, but there is a limit to that. Cyberbullying, whether of children, adults or public figures, is wrong. The best thing we can do to counteract it is to apply a basic principle. Is what is said something that would be tolerated if it happened in the public square?

Could somebody say what is being said in the street and do so without consequences? The other issue is how we can legislate in this context. We plan to legislate for an online safety commissioner as part of the media commission. That online safety commissioner will have the power to order platforms to take content down where it is harmful. We will have a job to do in this House to define what harmful means, because one person's harmful is another person's opinion. We must bear that in mind. We must also bear in mind that this is the World Wide Web and that Ireland is only one country out of 200. There are limitations to our extraterritorial remit, but many of these companies are based in Ireland and that gives us more influence than most countries.

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